Swinger vs Fox vs 5th element rear shocks

B

bassman

Squid
Wondering what people thought of these, just the swinger's seems to be getting some popularity its now stock on most of the specialized big hit and demo bikes also giant AC's and DH as it had last year.

Is the swinger really that good compared to the others.
 
S

shmity

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Its directly based on the 5th element shock, i belive it actually uses some of the same body castings, the reason its being used alot more on bikes that had fox shocks, was the fact that 5th shocks are really long and didn't fit on most fox equiped bikes. But the swinger comes in more stroke and i2i lengths, so it will fit on those bikes now.
 
Squidly Didly

Squidly Didly

Has Been
Staff member
Question: Did Manitou just pay the patent on the 5th Element for the 'Swinger' and add sag control? I like all the shocks really. Fox is the most popular, but a properly tuned 5th is schweet to ride. I'm dying to take a 'Curnutt' for a proper ride thow. ie more than 10mins!
 
Cave Dweller

Cave Dweller

Eats Squid
Fifths and swingers are both based and licensed from curnett. Curnet, fifth and swinger shocks are essentially the same.

Buy the way, the new manitou dorado xwerks has the exact same internals as the foes XTD forks.
 
S

shmity

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Its true that 5th licensed the technology from carnut, but they also started from scratch to design their shock. Mani essentially bought a copy of the plans from 5th and started producing them.
 
Bodin

Bodin

GMBC
Has anyone ridden one of the 5th element air shocks? I've heard that they're sposed to be super-sweet, but I've also read that they've had some breakage issues...
 
MrCove

MrCove

South Shore Distribution
i've just gone onto a 5th, from a Fox RL, really happy with it too. good for the pedaling and the climbs and doesn't seem to blow through the travel giving it a kind of 'endless' feel
nice
 
Bodin

Bodin

GMBC
Yeah, the "endless travel feel" claim is what kinda grabbed my attention. So you got your hands on an Air version, hey? How much did it cost? Where did you get it from? What frame did you mount it on?
 
MrCove

MrCove

South Shore Distribution
no, i've not got an air one, although i'd like to try one. i've got a coil on a G-Spot. pedals really well. got triple clamps on which i don't really get on with, i'm going to get a pair of Z150's for the G, reckon they will be right on the money.
would like to build one up with 5th Air Can, Z1 FR SL's, triple chainset, heavy duty XC wheels etc and see how it builds up into a long travel heavy duty XC bike
i'm racing a G-Spot in the MONT 24 next weekend, unfortunately not with the light spec!!!
 
Bodin

Bodin

GMBC
Wow. 24hrs on a G-Spot. You're gonna suffer. I did a 12hr on a lightweight hardtail (GT Zaskar, SIDs, XTR) a month ago and it damn near killed me. I'm interested in the 5th air because I've also got a GT iDrive that I love and it would rock on long rides, but it's too damn heavy with the coil shock that it came with.
 
MrCove

MrCove

South Shore Distribution
i'm in a team of 6 though!!!! dead easy
the G is gonna rock!!!
would be better if i could get about 5 pounds off it though
 
Bodin

Bodin

GMBC
It's still a lotta bike for enduro racing, though. You'd be better off leaving your G-Spot as is and using the upgrade cash to buy a reasonable xc hardtail for the long races. The dream of having a bike that's strong enough to take punishment, but still light enough to ride XC is getting closer to being realised, but still not quite there... You're better off having two purpose-built bikes and having the best of both worlds.
 
B

bb7 rider

Cyclone Imports
ive got a 5th element air on my belair looks sweet but i havent ridden it much feels kinda the same as the fox float rl, the whole bottomless thing works with most air shocks cause if you bottom it they usually blow i mean you cant compress all the air in the chamber to a bottoming point. or so it seems
 
MrCove

MrCove

South Shore Distribution
Bodin
i'm just doing it to promo the bike, i'm the Cove importer for Australia! would be more sensible to do it on the Hustler but they aren't available yet

i could use a bunch of other stuff but i'm going with the G-Spot. i've got some Z1 FR SL's which would be nice on it too but they are stuck in Customs along with a load of my personal stuff, xc wheels, tyres, stem etc

not to worry, it's a G-Spot with DJ3's, 4 pot Hopes on Mavic 321's, 28" bars, 50mm stem and a a DH crank for this weekend!!!

i have put the 5th on it though and a pair of CB Mallets so i can clip in
 
Bodin

Bodin

GMBC
MrCove - Cool man, didn't realise you were the importer! Hope you get some decent coverage for the bike. I like the looks of the Cove frames, but I've never seen one in the flesh. Besides, with six of you in the team, you'll have a blast, whatever you ride.

bb7 rider - Thanks for the comparison. The FloatRL is the other (much cheaper) option that I'm considering. Particularly since next year's models will have "Pro-Pedal" damping.
 
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